Russell Crowe to direct first movie

A non-stop action film starring James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie & Morgan Freeman. Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) is a mild-mannered Chicago office worker until he meets Fox (Jolie), who reveals to him that he's a member of an ancient secret organization called the Fraternity, which kills bad people. Upon learning from Fox that his estranged father has been murdered, Wesley completes training and becomes an avenging assassin.

The Oscar-winning actor has wanted to helm a project for years and after deciding the police movie is the perfect film for him to get behind the camera, he also wants to star in it.

The drama connects two stories from 1974, dealing with both the unsolved murder of a Los Angeles Police District (LAPD) officer, and the nationally televised shootout in South Central Los Angeles between the Symbionese Liberation Army and the LAPD, where 50,000 rounds of gunfire were exchanged.

The events will be seen through the eyes of two police partners, one black and one white.

The movie has been scripted by David Matthews from a story by LA Confidential's James Ellroy, while Dick Wolf and Tony Ganz are producing.

While he is set to sign up for '77', Crowe has previously revealed he wants to star in a Bollywood movie.

He said: "I don't mean a typical Hollywood film that happens to be set in India, but a Bollywood film. The script would have to be right, and I've to understand completely what I was doing, but I fancy having a go."